Planning a Sales Kick-Off Meeting: Goals, Agenda and Venue

A sales kick-off meeting, or SKO, brings your own sales team together at the start of the year, before they go back to customers with new targets. If you run sales for a company with an office in Türkiye, or want to gather a regional team here, the planning usually lands on your desk in December. The date is in January, people are flying in from several cities and there is no hotel yet. Start with what the meeting has to tell the team. The venue comes after that.

What a kick-off should achieve

In the first week of the year a sales rep wants to know the target, their own share of it, how commission works and whether pricing has changed. All of this could go out by email. A kick-off is different because everyone hears the same message on the same day from the people who set it, and can ask questions in the room.

Write the purpose in one sentence before you look at venues, for example "the team leaves understanding the new territories and commission plan". That sentence tells you how much time each part of the agenda needs. A product launch calls for afternoon workshops. A reorganised team, or one with many new hires, gains more from the evening and a second day.

Timing

Hold it as soon as the year's targets and budget are signed off. Without confirmed numbers the team sits through a general speech, which is why most companies choose the first weeks of the year or the start of their financial year.

Check the date against your dealer meeting, sector trade fairs and public holidays in every country people fly in from. For a January meeting, start looking for a hotel in November. When participants come from several countries, check each nationality's entry rules for Türkiye early.

One- and two-day agendas

One day is enough if most of the team can arrive on a morning flight. Two days make sense when people come from far away or when training and a team activity are in the plan. The times below are an example.

Two details decide whether this works. Three regional groups in three corners of the main hall will hear each other, so book a small breakout room for each. And the morning plenary needs theatre or classroom seating, while afternoon discussion suits cabaret style, so ask whether the hotel can reset the room over lunch. Our guide to meeting room layouts compares the options.

For a team activity on day two, consider the group's age and fitness, as our team building guide explains.

City hotel or resort

A city hotel works when most of the team lives there. You book rooms only for those travelling in. The weakness is that the team scatters after dinner, and some people slip out at lunch to call a client.

At a resort the team spends at least one night under the same roof, and the awards dinner and next morning's session happen in one place. Travel and rooms go on the budget, but if everyone is flying in anyway, a resort adds no extra trip. For a city meeting with flights from many countries, Istanbul works well. Our Istanbul incentive guide covers where to base a group and the two airports.

For an out-of-town meeting in winter, look at Antalya. Lara sits close to the city and the airport, and Belek has large hotels that take big groups, as our Antalya incentive travel guide shows. Northern Cyprus is another option, but entry rules differ by nationality, so read the section on foreign delegates in our Cyprus meetings guide first. In January, plan around the meeting room and dinner, not the outdoors, and ask whether the hotel is open that week.

We suggest the city and hotel based on the purpose of the meeting and the number of people. We handle flights, rooming lists and airport transfers in the same plan.

Announcing targets and rewards on stage

The kick-off is the natural place to launch the year's reward scheme. If an incentive trip's destination and qualifying rule are announced in the first week, the team works towards it from the first month. A trip announced in mid-year adds nothing to the early months. What the announcement should include is in the section "The trip starts on the day you announce it" of our incentive programme guide.

Decide in advance where each number is shared. The company target can be presented to everyone in the plenary. Regional and individual quotas are often easier to discuss in the regional workshop, with each rep's own manager in the room.

An awards dinner needs a running order: who goes on stage, in what order and for how long. Staging, sound, lighting, screens and a host are part of what we arrange, and our corporate gala dinner guide covers the evening in detail.

The week after

In the first week back in the field:

• Send the slides and the target sheet to everyone. The numbers in the email should match the numbers on stage.
• Ask regional managers to split the target by person.
• Send a short survey asking which sessions helped and which ran too long.
• If photography and video were part of the event, use the selected shots in internal communications.

The survey and a line-by-line cost report are what you will reach for when planning next year.

Frequently asked questions

What is a sales kick-off?

It is the meeting that opens the sales year for a company's own sales team, where targets, commission, products and rewards are presented in person.

How long should a sales kick-off last?

One day covers targets, products and rewards. Long travel, training or a team activity make two days more comfortable.

Does it need to be out of town?

Not necessarily. If most of the team lives in one city, a hotel there is enough.

Can it be combined with the dealer meeting?

Yes, but the agendas differ. Commission, quotas and internal pricing belong in a session without dealers. A common pattern is an internal session with the sales team in the morning and a joint programme with dealers in the afternoon. Budget and contract points for the dealer side are in our dealer meeting guide.

Should the awards dinner be on the same evening?

Usually, because the team is already together. If people fly home that evening, move the awards to lunch or the closing session.

How far ahead should we start planning?

For a meeting of up to a hundred people, four to six weeks is usually enough. For a large team, a resort hotel or a busy period, starting two to three months ahead widens the choice of hotels and flights.

Use the form on this page to tell us the purpose of the meeting in one sentence, how many people are coming and where they fly in from. In the first call we fix the date and set out a city and a resort option side by side, each with a cost breakdown. The Meeting Organisation page lists what we handle, from meeting rooms and AV equipment to hotels and travel.